I have come across a document that shows mineral rights for my uncle (I am his legal heir) that I had not previously known about. It is an Assignment of overriding royalty and reads:
“…the oil, gas and other minerals down to but not below the base of the Deese Formation in and under the following described land situated in Stephens County, OK to wit:
North Half of Northwest Quarter of Northeast Quarter (N/2 NW/4 NE/4) and Northeast Quarter of Northeast Quarter (NE/4 NE/4) of Section 13, Township 2 South, Range 5 West…”
There are 4 wells in this section. So how do I determine, what if any mineral rights should have gone to my uncle?
thanks for the help
Jill Evarts
It would depend on timing. An overriding royalty is not a permanent property right. It lasts only so long as the lease it is associated with lasts. If the lease he was associated with expired, then so did his interest.
I would start by first looking at the date of the Assignment relative to the date of first production. If there is more than a 3-5 year gap, then it is likely that the associated lease expired and so did his override.
The other issue that would need to be reviewed is the depth limitation to the base of the Deese Formation. If the producing wells are producing from a deeper formation, then the override would not apply.
You can go on the OCC website and search section 1302N05W and look at the wells that are in the NE4 to narrow down which wells are pertinent. Then you may have to figure out which wells belong to several of the water flood units by looking up the unititzation agreements’ maps and lists of tracts. Being in a water flood for the Deese might keep that override longer than a plain lease. Some of the wells in the water flood are spaced at 640 acres in the Deese, so you may still held by any of them. You are held by the McQueen 2 well. Contact Claud Allen Wilson Box 1783 Ardmore, OK to see if he has the records of your uncle. Kodiak has the SVPLDSU 102 well still active in the Lower Deese. SU means sand unit. (It is called the S Velma Pool Lower Deese Sand Unit, but I can’t find it in the OCC Units list) You may be held by it. It was drilled in 2013 and the Deese Lower was supposed to be at about 1500’. Kodiak Oil & Gas 204 N Walnut St, Muenster, TX 76252-2766 is the operator. You would have to contact them. The permit says the Deese is 640 spacing.
This should help you get started. Here is a map I drew for you.
Map of tracts NE4 13-2S-5W.xlsx (55.5 KB)
Thanks for the help. This document is over 50 years old I see, so if it only lasts as long as the lease associated with it, I’d say it is long gone. There are fund in OK missing money, the last deposit was 1975, so thinking that could very will be the balance of what I am due, but I will dig a little further to be sure. Thanks for all the input.
Jill
Those wells are still active, so the lease is still active.